Nitroprusside prevents the psychosis-like behavior induced by ketamine in rats

Snezana · January 26, 2015, 7:21pm

Here is a new article from Jaime Hallak and Serdar Dursun:

Nitroprusside single-dose prevents the psychosis-like behavior induced by ketamine in rats for up to one week

I put lots of hope in this drug.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Nitroprusside single-dose prevents the psychosis-like behavior induced by ketamine in rats for up to one week.

JP Maia-de-Oliveira, B Lobão-Soares, T Ramalho, EC Gavioli, VP Soares, L Teixeira, GB Baker, SM Dursun and JE Hallak, Schizophrenia research, Mar 2015

Recently, we found a rapid and long-lasting improvement of symptoms in schizophrenic patients on antipsychotics after a single four-hour infusion of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a nitric oxide (NO) donor with a short half-life. This improvement persisted for up to 4weeks. Because these patients remained on antipsychotics after infusion of SNP was finished, the question arises about whether this improvement was due to SNP itself. We have now investigated whether SNP, alone, can produce preventive antipsychotic effects in rats treated with ketamine (KET). 56 adult rats divided into 7 groups were infused with SNP 4mg/kg, KET 25mg/kg, or saline as follows: group1 - saline, group2 - SNP, group3 - KET, group4 - KET 12h after SNP, group5 - KET 1day after SNP, group6 - KET 2days after SNP, and group7 - KET 1week after SNP. The animals were filmed in an open field arena for 30min and the videos were later analyzed by ANY-Maze software to measure activity and stereotypy. SNP significantly prevented the emergence of hyperactivity induced by KET when it was administered for up to 1week before KET, and prevented the emergence of stereotypies when it was administered for up to 1day before KET. These findings in rats, which have an even faster metabolic rate than humans, suggest that the long-lasting effects observed in our clinical trial with SNP in humans could have been due to SNP itself, and indicate for the first time that SNP may present preventive antipsychotic effects.

Cheers

revv · January 26, 2015, 7:23pm

says page not found

SzAdmin · January 26, 2015, 7:44pm

I fixed the link above - and here is more information:

j0x · January 27, 2015, 11:34am

this was reported back in 2013:

In an exciting, provocative study published recently in JAMA-Psychiatry, Jaime Hallak and colleagues reported on the effects of sodium nitroprusside, an anti-hypertensive medication, on acute psychotic symptoms in patients with an exacerbation of schizophrenia. Why would anyone expect an anti-hypertensive medication to alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia? The answer to this question is related to our increasing knowledge of the biology underlying psychotic illnesses.

Due to the nature of the drug, nitroprusside must be administered intravenously. The dose picked for this study is low compared with the dose used to treat hypertension, but it should still be effective in increasing levels of nitric oxide. This study compared the effect of a 4-hour administration of intravenous nitroprusside with a 4-hour administration of a placebo solution. Both the participants and the researchers were unaware of who received the active agent versus the placebo. The study participants continued on whatever antipsychotic medications they had been taking, and no changes in these medications were permitted for 7 days following the intravenous administration. (Of course, provisions were made for emergencies.)

The results of this small, preliminary study were remarkable. Substantial improvement was observed within 4 hours and continued for 4 weeks following a single administration of nitroprusside. Both positive and negative symptoms of the disorder showed substantial improvement.